Sit Down for Dinner proves the band is as compelling as ever, circling in and out of each other's vocals and rhythms with ease.

It's always amazing how the two rappers behind Armand Hammer can complement each other so seamlessly while also seeming to tread on two separate planes of existence — We Buy Diabetic Test Strips is alive with this unique balancing act.

As a group that have faced their growing pains together, Slow Pulp strike the perfect balance between soft, thoughtful and loud on Yard. Tangled up in nervousness about being either too selfish or too self-pitying, the band finds a way to wring out the drab fabric of discomfort until a bit of beauty trickles out.

Albums like Feel, Strawberry Jam and Merriweather Post Pavilion are typically considered Animal Collective's best works, yet they all lack the sustained presence of Isn't It Now? Lord only knows if it's the impact of Elevado or simply 20-odd years of musical chemistry coalescing into something new, but however it happened, Animal Collective found the now sound.

They haven't lost the heart of their sound, only shown it in a new light. If last year's Cruel Country was a nod to their country roots, then Cousin is a departure from those origins in favour of new sonic shores.

There's a pastoral feel to the album — the band recorded it all in an epic ten day session at a studio in the Welsh countryside, and you can hear that region's influence in everything here. It sounds wide open and unencumbered, full but never cluttered or dense.

The music — a mix of digital sound with electric and acoustic guitars and live (or at least live sounding) drums — complements their newfound humanist approach to songwriting. 2022's Glitch Princess shattered pop music into a million little pieces. Here Ćmiel has glued things back together, but the cracks are still visible in the way they pair genre tropes.

This is razor sharp pop — fine-tuned, sincere and defiant as all hell.

It's at the intersection of curiosity and vulnerability where she concocts her best work. Gentle Confrontation learns and preserves artifacts of the mind, appreciating special moments that many leave lost in time.

No Joy sounds far more artful and ambitious than anyone would have expected from this band a few years ago.

If all of the National's albums were placed in a Venn diagram, Laugh Track would sit at the direct centre — neither expanding the sound à la the sweeping expanse of 2019's I Am Easy to Find, nor fully retreating to the straight-up indie rock of 2007's The Boxer. Crucially, it re-establishes them as a group of long-time collaborators in line with one another, none of them standing out from the others.

It's one of their most streamlined and focused records yet.

End constitutes a worthy addition to Explosions in the Sky's discography, even if it doesn't really open a new chapter for them.

The record can be as self-lacerating as any of Mitski's past works — the skin-tingling bar room swing of "I Don't Like My Mind," with its frenetic binging and sorry purging, is an early gut punch — but it holds a steady, wisened resolve at its core, an acceptance of solitude and ache that sets it apart from the rest of her catalogue.

Mid Air champions feeling and shared connection. You'll remember it for a long while.

Though not without its standout moments, Rabbit Rabbit can sometimes feel a bit too stuck in its comfort zone to convert new listeners. Having said that, the band's snarling, no-nonsense demeanour — not to mention Dupuis being unafraid to tackle heavy topics like childhood trauma and violence — often makes up for the relative lack of sonic diversity.

HELLMODE more than likely delivers. The album is quintessential Rosenstock. Honestly though, so was No Dream, so was Post-, so was Worry, and so was We Cool? He's apparently incapable of making a bad record — even your least favourite Rosenstock album is, at the very least, good.

The Window finds Ratboys deservedly taking a confident step into a space they carved out for themselves.

While the album doesn't have the same immediate impact as ULTRAPOP (everything they release henceforth will inevitably be compared to that titanic slab of a record), Perfect Saviours will undoubtedly cement the Armed as one of the best, most exciting rock/punk/hardcore/experimental/whatever-you-want-to-call-them bands making music today.

Meek even ventures off-planet for the crunchy electric guitar freakout "Undae Dunes," a tale of youthful love interrupted by a UFO abduction. That kind of psychedelic twist is what gives Haunted Mountain, and much of Meek's discography, the fuel to rocket past so many nostalgia-minded country bandwagoners.

This record is both a rocket and a time machine, fusing influences so thoroughly that the sum of their parts are barely discernible, and offering both comfort in the familiar and an escape from our current time it hurtles you into orbit.

A decade after "Take Me to Church," Unreal Unearth's muscular production and defined vision proves Hozier's maturity as an artist, complete with his usual employment of religious imagery. He doesn't shy away from the darkest parts of the human condition, but he isn't afraid of having a little existential fun either.

With Struggler, he's proven that he's a singular talent, overcoming the sophomore slump and putting the world on notice by taking everything that made Smiling with No Teeth so special and digging deeper, building a world that's uniquely his own.

Age has only made the Hives sound tighter, giving them time to master an electrifying energy that few others harness.

Like any secret, it is sometimes sharp and poignant, sometimes mundane. And yet, in its best moments, it becomes a secret worth hearing.

A lot of Aphex EPs are marred by fairly forgettable tracks (who's blasting "Nannou" in 2023?), but this latest one is solid tungsten all the way through.

This project may be just a bite-sized sample, a delicious hors d'oeuvre served up while you're waiting for whatever three-course meal that Alchemist has coming next, but it's also a reminder that Alchemist's circle doubles as a roster of some of the best rappers around.

Spacey synths and trippy percussion give listeners a taste of her internal world; dreamy and wistful but also riddled with disruptive bouts of gentle chaos.

While "Casino Niagara" revels in the steam-blurred sensuality of R&B, Love Hallucination stands as Lanza's most sexually assertive record for its inclusion of "Marathon," a bratty pop confection.

Even ballads like "Give it Up for Love" and "Mountain Song," while rooted in dance music, have a fresh and organic feel to them that feels equally suited to the dark booth of a nightclub as it does a cozy catch up at home.

Joni Mitchell at Newport is her victory lap.

Natural Disaster builds on the laidback, Californian sound that defined much of Best Coast's catalogue, and is a reflective time capsule of a moment between distinct chapters in Cosentino's life.

Pure Music is Strange Ranger's most alluring and most impressive effort yet. Fans of the band's beginnings will probably remain averse to this affirmed sonic shift, but it's hard not to respect an outfit brazenly evolving by throwing everything familiar out the window and going buck wild with their vision.

Rajan successfully bridges vintage influences into the best of modern psychedelia, resulting in the most precise and mature Night Beats album to date. Perhaps the secret ingredient is just a little hot ghee.

They're sure to become mainstays on many a summer playlist. Although it feels like the group still have more to explore, this album is a remarkable effort by Little Dragon as they begin to finally reach their full potential.

On their sophomore effort, Good Living Is Coming for You, Mondal and Schnug are again looking ahead, but this time around, the scenery feels more sinister and the ambient sense of dread is sharper. Thankfully though, the result is no less dynamic than its predecessor.

With Chaos for the Fly, Grian Chatten has proven that he's not only worth his salt for leading one of the biggest UK bands in the world right now, but that he has the erudition to create fantastic music without his Fontaine D.C. mates.

Stories from a Rock n Roll Heart is brash, loud, triumphant, and quintessentially Williams — her perseverance in the face of adversity is truly inspiring, and these stories are tales to live by.

New listeners will surely be inclined to throw them into their rotation with open arms, and those already in the know will be glad to hear Militarie Gun continue to exceed expectations.

Overall, the album doesn't have a lot of replay value besides a few stand-out songs like the Drake-featuring "Oh U Went" and "Went Thru It," which is led mainly by the strength of Metro Boomin's production.

Cynical and crushing, Bright New Disease is the sound of a short-term supergroup flexing their technical skills and boundless musical knowledge. It stands as a commendable and blistering — albeit slight — diversion from either band's respective output.

Duffy relinquished control and precision — and perhaps loneliness — in favour of something more immediate, striking, and impulsive. The resulting six-song record has a looseness to it that celebrates the uninhibited power of spontaneity and invention.

Condensing her struggles into meditative lyrics and singing from the perspective of fictional characters, this is a jazz project in its purest and most unadulterated form, and a very solid start to Ndegeocello's tenure at Blue Note.

As with all successful concept albums, its individual songs work as well independently as they do as a whole. It's depth shrouded in mischief, and it's proof that King Gizzard have mastered creating music that's as heavy conceptually as it is sonically.

The record is an achievement of pop-house production, and Jayda's performance throughout is earnest and enthralling — It's a strong effort and vital evolution in her ever-shifting career.

This might not be the most urgent Sigur Rós album, but it'll surely be remembered as one of their most gorgeous. For a band so well known for all things beautiful, beauty for its own sake is hardly a problem.

Queens of the Stone Age dial back their intensity and step up their groove to develop a new sound for the end of the world on In Times New Roman…. For better or worse, it's clear that the band are not the same alt-rock anthem-makers they were in the Y2K era.

Time Ain't Accidental is filled with minimalist modern country ballads that gently dissolve like a sugar cube on your tongue.

Heaven Is A Junkyard will make you feel its spiritual tone and tenor, a superpower that has laid dormant with Youth Lagoon, now awakened by Powers finally finding his voice."

It's far more experimental than her last effort, but in a thoughtful way that makes for a refreshing listen.

Throughout Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?, Dixon continues to show off his acrobatic way with words and parades his affecting precision of imagery.

Intensely frantic and intimately vulnerable, Girl with Fish proves that sometimes letting things run off the rails pays off, so long as you have hands to grasp onto.

On Purge, it feels like the band has finally found a sense of catharsis. In the end, this record does exactly what it says it will; it offers listeners a chance to dwell and stew on the darkness in their lives before inviting them to release those feelings; while the relief might be temporary, sometimes that's all you need.

Rays of light shine through on the glitzy, sparkling "So Clear," where she realizes after "ten thousand days" — as in, the late-twenties — fucking up is necessary to incite change. At this point, Folick looks back at the first half of the album with a fresh, wisened perspective. In doing so, it feels euphoric to see the extent of her growth.

The group's musical evolution is clear, but they clearly can (and should) push even further into this heavier direction.

The result is a catchy, cathartic experience that feels fun, even while wading through themes of loss, shame and eventually acceptance.

As an album, Shadow Kingdom is an alternate universe that reflects another side of Bob Dylan's craft and creative muses. It's not a funhouse mirror reflection per se, but it's definitely really fun the more you look at it.

There are a few new sounds here — prominent vocal harmonies in the chorus of the opening title track, electronic snare hits and a soft synth hum on the saccharine "Looking for a Vein" — but for the most part, this is familiar DMB.

Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? is an album of great substance, one that both rewards and demands close listening.

The Murlocs have shown their skill at evolving naturally with little effort, and Calm Ya Farm sees the band putting it all together, upping the honky-tonk and honing their unique-yet-timeless sound more than ever.

While highlight "The Glass" is an undisputedly heartbreaking acoustic-tinged ditty about living the rest of your life in someone's absence, the mid-LP tracks unfortunately do little more than fill obligatory spots on the Foo Fighters spectrum.

Despite a few moments spent in the doldrums, Park's heartfelt lyricism and serene instrumentals navigate the complexities of love and healing, reminding listeners of the ongoing process of finding wholeness.

Despite the often abrasive experimental flourishes, the album retains a joyous sense of melody and pulse that makes it undeniably fun at its core.

On Amatssou, Tinariwen adds to their amazing range and melodic flexibilities through collaboration, allowing some of their biggest admirers into their majestic, fully realized world.

The whole album is chock full of songs that scream road trips and beach days, pulling from a grungier vision of Sheryl Crow and latter-day Liz Phair's fun-loving pop rock, shot through with a synthesised yet vulnerable twinge that was already apparent on Lahey's first two albums.

NEVER ENOUGH is a cohesive display of genre experimentation that cements Caesar's place as one of the smartest and most talented artists in today's constantly mutating R&B pantheon.

On The Love Invention, Alison Goldfrapp shows that she's more than just the face of Goldfrapp. In fact, she might still be the face of modern UK sophisti-pop.

Bigger, bolder, and even more exploratory than his 2020 debut Your Hero Is Not Dead, An Inbuilt Fault.

Granted, tracks like "I Need You" and "Too Late" give off a Cars-meets-mid-career Tegan & Sara vibe that's a little too on the nose. ... This album is full of pleasant surprises, though.

That! Feels Good! is unapologetic in its pop sensibilities, full of hooks that lightly tease and lyrics that keep themselves around. Ware's airy yet soulful delivery of these words, coos and moans is part of what makes her so captivating, and acts as a direct line to how much fun she's having.

All things considered, this may not be the best album ever made by Kid Koala, but it might be one of his most rewarding experiences.

Lightning Dreamers is refreshing for how it demonstrates the veteran cornetist's clear and realized vision. At 58 years old, Mazurek has helped usher jazz into the new millennium by surrounding himself with genre-defying musicians, transporting the arithmetic sound of Chicago through a warped space-time continuum.

Lily's clean and refined songwriting on Big Picture has her following in the footsteps of the similarly polished and venerable Laura Marling while sharing an emotionally intuitive sharpness and tongue-in-cheek propensity with fellow contemporaries like Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers.

The track list moves like grief itself, with a glimmer of hope before plunging back into darkness and hurt. But, as Green does so well, each track is buoyed by his smooth voice, full of emotion, and poetic lyrics that can somehow perfectly capture every sentiment.

This debut album stands on its own as an artistically daring personal statement.

Rat Saw God is wildly ambitious and easily lives up to the industry hype — Wednesday have succeeded once again in twisting nostalgia and existential dread into a braid of bruising, life-affirming rock music.

Taken as a whole, this is the kind of record that will infect your life, to paraphrase "Sepsis," one of the record's standouts. I, for one, am down to let it kill me.

Continue as a Guest picks up on the beats-and-synths sound that drove 2017's snappy Whiteout Conditions. Yet where that album saw Newman and Co. dabbling with syncopation, here the band is moving as one unit, deepening the music's groove.

For 36 minutes, the listener is submerged in the LP's chaos, but when the album finishes and you come up for air, there's a feeling of obligation to go back and listen through again. It's a celebration of the singular stylings of these two hip-hop heretics, one that rejects any semblance of conformity, leaving it free to be exactly what they want it to be, whatever that is.

Dacus brings a sense of wit and sensitivity; Bridgers a quiet melancholy; Baker a raw ferocity. the record combines those individual instincts into a group effort that's compelling in all sorts of ways — and one that's also charmingly (and, in a way, fittingly) imperfect.

On Memento Mori, Depeche Mode turn this philosophical reminder into a beautiful, raw, and passionate rebirth.

It's a lurid, scuzzy, electrifying return to form.

Embracing her past while looking forward, on GOOD LUCK, FRIDAY makes her own.

Putting the tiger back in a 15-year old cage works well for the band, for the most part. You can feel Stump chafing against the creative box he's put himself back in, and the tension it creates in the music gives many of these songs a sense of immediacy.

93696 is an ongoing, turbulent act of engagement — its surging power will throttle you, blow you over with fury and ecstasy. But it will also pull you in for an embrace, to quell and allow for the chance to breathe and reflect.

A record that moves between genres and moods with a deft touch.

Generous helpings of angst and spice on Hot Between Worlds make for a raw listening experience, one which does not offer resolution or understanding, but rather a ding-dong-ditch challenge to psychic fisticuffs in the middle of the street.

Altin Gün don't reinvent the wheel so much as craft a sick new set of rims. They do their thing like nobody else, and they're always getting better at it — Aşk gives you everything you want, and you'll still want more.

It's a confident and proper return, written squarely from Gonzalez's comfort zone with a few fun twists from its undersung predecessor; It's exactly what we needed from M83 right now, even if it's sometimes a little too extra.

Radical Romantics is as joyfully alive with sound as anything that Dreijer has created in their three decades of music making.

This isn't an album of contrasts but a vibe to get immersed in, and it's a welcome reminder of what once made Rose one of the key figures in indie rock.

Guitarists Trevor Peres and Ken Andrews' tones are more menacing than ever, and Donald Tardy's intense, skull-shaking drums are perfectly captured. While vocalist John Tardy's screams have obviously aged since Obituary's early days, they still sound powerful enough to get the job done, and the entire band plays with a locked-in ferocity that never sounds robotic or artificial.

Though there's not much variation in volume or tempo, listening carefully to the record's subtle weather shifts is deeply satisfying; it's a dream state, enveloped by Uchis' inimitable voice.

Ugly explores the rapper's newly formed duality, deepening his songcraft and letting the raging flame dim to a white-hot ember; it's his most reflective album to date.

Bless This Mess feels like a rebirth; a boundless, alien take on Remy's explosive art-pop, its conceptual wildness and sonic friskiness allowing her to flex her vision and sense of humour in brand new ways.

Cracker Island is the most focused and least eclectic instalment in the band's discography — and for that reason, it absolutely breezes by.

Adorned with earthy imagery across almost every track — and highlighted by the groovy "One Bird Calling" and the livestock sampling "A Barn Conversation" — The Vivian Line is a love letter to his rural homestead and the loved ones with whom he shares it.

Raven's unstructured, experimental feel may be unsettling for some, but the project's only other downside is that eventually, it ends.